Henry G Brandt

Henry G Brandt (March 2016)

Henry G. Brandt (born Heinz Georg Brandt on 25 September 1927 in Munich ; died 7 February 2022 in Zürich ) was a German rabbi .

Life

In 1939, the family of the then eleven-year-old Brandt emigrated to Tel Aviv via England . After serving as an officer in the Israeli War of Independence , Brandt studied economics in Northern Ireland at Queen's University of Belfast from 1951 to 1955 and after graduating worked as a market analyst at Ford Motor Company . At this time he also volunteered in the Ilford Jewish community near London.

In 1957 he began studying at Leo Baeck College in London, graduating in 1961 with a rabbi's diploma ( Semicha ). He held his first rabbinate as a regional rabbi of reform congregations in Leeds , northeast England . In 1971 he went to Geneva , where he remained rabbi of an international Jewish community until 1978, after which he became founding rabbi of the Jewish liberal community "Or Chadasch" in Zurich , and later community rabbi of the Jewish community in Gothenburg . From 1983 to 1995 he was state rabbi of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony based in Hanover , and from 1995 to 2004 state rabbi of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Westphalia-Lippe in Dortmund . From 2004 to March 2019 he was the community rabbi of the Jewish community in Schwaben-Augsburg . As official rabbi, he looked after the Jewish religious community in Bielefeld .

From 1985 to 2016, Rabbi Brandt was the Jewish chairman of the German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation . He was a member of the board of directors of the Buber Rosenzweig Foundation . He was also a member of the "Jews and Christians" discussion group at the Central Committee of German Catholics .

In 2004, Brandt was elected chairman of the non-Orthodox General Rabbinical Conference (ARK); he held the post until February 2019. In addition, the newly drafted cross-current German Rabbinical Conference appointed him its founding chairman in 2005. He held this office until 2006; he was succeeded by Natanel Teitelbaum of the Orthodox Rabbinical Conference .

Brandt joined the Freemasonry in England in 1962 .

He last lived in Zurich, where he also died at the age of 94.

Debate on the Good Friday Intercession

After both Walter Homolka and Micha Brumlik canceled their participation in the 97th German Catholic Day in May in Osnabrück in February 2008 out of indignation at the Good Friday intercession for the Jews , Rabbi Henry Brandt stated that he was surprised by Walter Homolka's cancellation. He agrees with him when criticizing the text of the intercession. The talks with the Catholic Church are, however, precisely for this reason necessary. Brandt emphasized: "There is still room for negotiation" and "I think it's the wrong way to break off the talks."

honors and awards

• In 1994, the Department of Protestant Theology at the Philipps University in Marburg awarded Henry G. Brandt an honorary doctorate.
• In 2005, the Central Institute Islam Archive Germany Foundation awarded him the Muhammad Nafi Chelebi Prize for his pioneering role in the Jewish-Muslim dialogue . He is said to be the first rabbi to ever receive an Islamic award.
• On July 12, 2007, the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany awarded their Israel Jacobson Prize to Henry Brandt in Berlin, together with Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich (Basel) and the state rabbi of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, William Wolff .
• 2008: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Cross of Merit, First Class)
• 2011: Edith Stein Prize
• 2014: Bavarian Order of Merit
• 2015: Honorary citizen of the city of Augsburg
• 2018: Klaus Hemmerle Prize
• 2019: Estrongo Nachama Award for Tolerance and Moral Courage

web links

• Literature by and about Henry G. Brandt in the German National Library catalogue
• German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation
• Henry Brandt as winner of the Muhammad Nafi Chelebi Prize
• Rabbi Henry G. Brandt: Move to Augsburg
• Central Council of Jews in Germany on Brandt's 90th birthday

itemizations

1. ↑ Central Council of Jews in Germany Kdö.R: Mourning for Rabbi Henry G. Brandt. February 8, 2022, retrieved February 8, 2022 . 
2. ↑ New state rabbi in office. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. October 13, 1983.
3. ↑ http://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/article/view/id/25583 Jewish General. May 26, 2016.
4. ↑ Named after Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig .
5. ↑ Andreas Nachama new chairman. In: www.juedische-allgemeine.de. 16 February 2019, retrieved 16 February 2019 . 
6. ↑ Ehrenmanns Bruderbund in GEO : The new picture of the earth (No. 2/February 1988) by Jens Rehländer and Henning Christoph, p. 19.
7. ↑ Alois Knoller: Rabbi Henry G. Brandt and Bishop Bertram Meier criticize society. Retrieved 31 July 2021 . 
8. ↑ Rabbi Henry G. Brandt dies. Retrieved February 8, 2022 . 
9. ↑ Micha Brumlik also cancels participation in the Catholic Day .
10. ↑ Henry G. Brandt City welcomes new honorary citizen
11. ↑ Rabbi Brandt receives Klaus Hemmerle Prize. Domradio.de, January 25, 2018, retrieved January 25, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Rabbi Henry G. Brandt honored. juedische-allgemeine.de, January 26, 2018, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Rabbi Dr. Henry G. Brand receives the Estrongo Nachama Prize for Tolerance and Civil Courage 2019. In: meridian-stiftung.de. Meridian Foundation, retrieved 30 July 2019 .